San Francisco Life and Politics

Saturday, July 16, 2016

For years, I have been ranting about San Francisco and the screwed up administration, policies, and methods of dealing with problems. Now I am giving up everything i have in SF, and moving out of the state. As of June 22, i am GONE. To those remaining, good luck and God speed. I have fought the good fight for 40 years, and now it's your turn if you wish to fight it. I pity you if you give up.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

The Woods Day resolution fiasco shows how pathetic the SF Board of Stupidvisors is. Not to argue either side of that issue in this post, both sides of which have valid points, but to point out how the Board's inability to compromise is ruining San Francisco. The confrontational approach pitting small ethnic business owners against property owners on the Mission's 24th Street is just the most recent. Over the last couple decades the Board has pitted residential landlords against tenants in the crazy apartment rental arena, pitted bicyclists against pedestrians against drivers, homeless against property owners, and developers against residents, requiring no self-responsibility and no compromise. Truly sad for our great city.

Just to catch up on the Post Office, as i wrote in 2010 and 2011 (search):Another article (chron last week) about how much the Post Office is loosing money, but no mention of the real problem, which is that now that first class mail has shrunk to a minute fraction of that in the late twentieth century, delivering the junk mail has required almost the same sized staff without the income from first class to pay for it. Until the Post Office deals with these unfunded subsidies, they will continue to lose billions. Will be interesting to see how the politicians deal with this issue.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

I was going to write about "black lives matter," which they do, but then realized that i had already done so, four years ago. It is more appropriate now...http://sfpoliticslife.blogspot.com/2012/08/minority-youth-violence-in-bay-area.html

If you noticed the "Healdsburg" special travel section in the Chron this am and live there or travel there, you should consider this.. I went there a year ago for an expensive frou-frou lunch and to spend the evening with friends who live there. It took me 15 minutes of driving around to even find a parking space, and that was after 10 minutes of crawling along trying to get to town. I will never go there again. The cities and towns of california have GOT to figure out how to deal with huge influxes of people, cars and a crumbling infrastructure. They will be overwhelmed with pollution, congestion, and rampant drains on resources unless they plan for the future (outside the box). San Francisco is already disintegrating because no-one will compromise on anything. Tens of thousands of new residents, for whom the buildings will neither provide parking (only 3/4 of a parking space, by law), nor street parking (no permits for new housing), nor any real improvement in muni, capacity for which really hasn't increased in a decade, only by a tiny fraction. Muni rearranges a few deck chairs (like on the Titanic), and calls it progress. We need massive more public transport (correction, you do, i'm leaving). Instead the city provides brand new tents for the thousands and thousands of homeless, who are required to take NO action to help themselves. Scary.....

This was one LONG sunday rant, so i split it into two rants:Walmart: Another big GREEDY CORP who closes down over 100 walmarts because the stores are located in cities that believe corporations should pay a living wage instead of forcing their employees to go on food stamps to survive.. Oakland and San Leandro come to mind. You are an idiot if you patronize Walmart. Just buy LESS STUFF and buy LOCAL. Big Pharma: more GREEDY corporations that would rather make Americans die rather than provide drugs for reasonable prices. The executives should be exiled to Nigeria, especially the millennial who jacked up the price of treatment from $750 to $80,000. He deserves to die of an untreated venereal disease... Millennials: The especially arrogant ones, like the drunk who beat up the uber driver, then sued for $5m, should be exiled to Nigeria..And to every scumbag in SF who is too important and arrogant to pick up after his / her dog (s), exiled to wallow in a crowded cow feed lot in the midwest.

OMG, two days in the last week with over 15 views each day, do people actually read this crap <grin>. Now if they only DID SOMETHING, like vote for a smart moderate who is willing to compromise. Get rid of the idiots I write about.....Today's rants, there are sooooo many things wrong today with the world, i can't write that many posts, so i'll summarize...From the Chron.. The game with the old concessionaire at Yosemite, wanting $51 MILLION for the names, typical Corporate GREED, they should be exiled to Nigeria, the most corrupt nation in the world or close to it.Warriors Arena: the rich old white men backing UCSF don't want to share the area with the Warriors which have already been approved. Exile them to Nigeria.NFL: One of the biggest GREEDY corporations in the world, screwing the poor fan and panicked cities again (only Oakland seems smart), closing down SF, providing games with expensive tickets. Their punishment is to continue to blow money on trying to convince other countries they should like football. Trust me, they will never convince soccer fans that watching one hour of concussions with three hours of jerkin off and commercials is better....

Oh right, and he blames the cops and the judges. One guy the cops caught and arrested 3 aug for breaking into cars in our neighborhood, the DA was so lax that he is now listed only as a "fugitive."

Makes me ill. Good thing my departure is less than a year away. Let the voters re-elect him. Politics in this town are so corrupt, nobody even ran against him last month. Added 1/30/16: Little Georgie now won't release the documents in his "corruption expose", most likely because then the charges would be exposed as a cheap political ploy. Anybody who doesn't think LG is running for Mayor is seriously ignorant.

Wow, people are actually reading these rants. I FERVENTLY HOPE SOMEONE, ANYONE, ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING ABOUT THESE PROBLEMS....Now for today's rant. What scares me about the United States is that there are millions and millions of Americans who actually believe that Donald Trump would make a good president..It scares me that crazy lunatic white boys can get guns and shoot up schools, movie theatres, shopping centers. It scares me that parts of the african american community are disintegrating ..It scares me that corporations think that destroying the middle class of america won't affect their sales, but increase their profits. It scares me that congress thinks that blocking everything will make america greater.The future scares me. Thank god i have no kids to whom i pass this country onto ..

Monday, December 28, 2015

In this morning's Chron (12/28/2015), some cranky old white man in Carmel wrote in a letter, in which he complimented Reich, that the cause of the demise of the middle class can be traced to Obama, who "..has transferred immense amounts of money from the wealthy to the lower class.."

What is he smoking ????? And of course, the Chron printed it. I am continually amazed at what the Chron picks for published letters.. I've had a few printed, but USUALLY a bit more knowledgeable than that.

Friday, December 11, 2015

I have noted the disturbing increase of discrimination against Muslims, and it occurred to me that all attacks on abortion clinics or planned parenthood facilities have been carried out by Fundamentalist Christians or someone raised around their kind. I think it’s time to forbid any Fundamentalist Christians from entering or returning to this country, and develop a database, as they are obviously all dangerous.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

The last time i mentioned gun control, it was back in june, a rant about the NRA. I have a proposal:Allow the ownership forever of non-automatic pistols, hunting rifles, and shotguns, all of which i have used at one time or another, with limited size magazines. I've blasted away with my step-father's .45, a WW I .303 enfield, which does wonders on old oil cans in a quarry on the missouri river (omg, how environmentally incorrect), and a bunch of different really sweet shotguns. God knows how many clay pigeons I've destroyed, along with my hearing...Ban ALL machine guns, automatic weapons, semi-automatic weapons. They have ONLY ONE USE, to kill people, kill people, and kill people. Require background checks EVERYWHERE, gun shops AND gun shows AND online. Do not allow nutcases, criminals, or watchlist folks to own guns...Of course, the nice people at the NRA and in the gummint will only take part in these negotiations when some crazed white man (and they really ARE white men) starts shooting and killing their children, like Mark Morford asked yesterday.

I rarely comment on sports, but after watching the team again, i gotta say that Jed York is a failure as an owner, Balke is a failure as a gm, and Tomsula is a failure as a coach. Nobody on the team seems happy. Jed York would do his asset a great help is he would sell the team before it loses much more value. The stadium is worth more than the team. Kap and Harbaugh will be / are much happier elsewhere...Money means everything, the way to get this to happen is give up season tickets, but i pity the folks that bought into this "seat license" scam, a real bernie madoff scheme. Remember that the next time someone offers to sell you a bridge...(1/15/16): Well, naturally, the lowest guy (Tomsula) on the totem pole gets fired, replaced by someone with as bad a rep. Maybe Kelly will fix things, but doubt it....

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Written to Chip Johnson of the Chron:

Hi Chip

Always appreciate your columns.

Ref Brooks (Desley Brooks, Oakland City Council, Tues Nov 24th), your comments are directed the wrong way, it's the VOTERS, as usual. If the other members are scared "s**tless" of her supporters, it means the voters are idiots. I have often said that "term limits" are already an admission that voters are idiots...

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Finally, a better way of calling someone a "cynical, cranky old white man" (old fart, like me)...In the chron obits today (11/22/15), a kindly over-80 gentleman (lawrence / princeton / wharton) and successful stock market type, almost life long resident of SF, had included among his character traits, "... kept up to date on politics and finance and welcomed a good discussion on these subjects." God bless him and may his soul rest in peace.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The attacks in Paris are a horrible example of the extremist thinking of the crazies in this world, the vast majority of whom are religious extremists. It is time to stop coddling religious extremists, start requiring people to take responsibility for their own actions. If they want to go to a training camp, never let them back into our country. If they espouse extremist thinking, exile them from our country and all its benefits. I have never blamed anyone of any religion for the actions of the extreme of their group, but i would feel better about the Muslim faith if we heard more protests from the moderates about the actions of ISIS. And for the most politically incorrect opinion, refugees have to stop looking at other countries by the millions and start fixing their own countries. The US has so many problems that we really aren't capable of fixing the remainder of the world.Just another un-pc thought, it's time for babies born here not to automatically become citizens since millions of people are intentionally taking advantage of it. Since changing the constitution is impossible, how about a work around to allow ""provisional citizenship" ??

Saturday, November 14, 2015

As an FYI moment... For those who believe the bs that PG&E put out to increase the solar rates, i'd like to point out a fact:Every year, our system has produced MORE power than we consumed. For the lasts 12 months, we supplied PG&E's grid with a net 502 kilowatt hours, worth $84.58. Under the state rules which PG&E's lobbyists wrote, they credited us with $17.76, the "wholesale rate" as one service rep told me. That's a profit of $66.82 for PG&E on my power. That's in addition to the average $5.44 per month for the "privilege" of receiving power at night. So don't tell me PG&E loses money on consumer solar... typical corp bs...

Monday, November 9, 2015

While i'm sitting here, i might as well comment on one of my favorite observations. If you've ever watched the evening national news on the major networks, it doesn't take much to realize that 90% of the commercials are for pharmaceuticals for OLD people. Tells you who is watching, and who isn't, and either get their news elsewhere, or don't absorb any news at all.. PS, and they are smart enuf to vote ???

As someone who grew up in Missouri, i am appalled by the continuing pathetic state of the state, especially the pathetic behavior of the 90 tiny municipalities of St Louis County, squeezing minorities to pay for the corrupt mostly white governments. The latest pathetic attempt at government involves the administration of University of Missouri at Columbia. For years, especially the last five years, the african american minority has been hassled and harassed by racist white kids. Basically the administration did NOTHING. Protests and hunger strikes did nothing. What caused the do-nothing president to resign. When the football team threatened to walk out on this saturday's game, thus causing the loss of $2 million in revenue to the university. Need i say more ???

Sunday, November 8, 2015

You ask if we are a third world country. I offer the following cranky old man rant:

Middle class whites, I understand, are now the fastest growing group of suicides and drug abusers.

Most US Companies are so quick to screw the employees that folks have had to create a new category of companies that are fair to employees; B Corps…

Voters are so stupid that someone had to invent “term limits.” The winner of SF’s most contentious recent race (resulting in a whopping 35% turnout) sent people with bullhorns into neighborhoods announcing, in cantonese, “Peskin has a good heart. The bearded man is the best. Support Peskin.”

San Francisco is pushing rapid transit by limiting developers to only ¾ of a parking space for every new housing unit. The transit authority is answering the challenge of 10,000 new housing units by rearranging bus routes by a few blocks, unless it inconveniences the seniors in which case changes are reversed. God forbid we offend aarp (or the nra, but that’s another story).

And then of course, there is SF’s $100 million bond issue for fixing streets, which the voters passed two years ago. But 2/3 of the funds were actually used to replace 5 year old “disabled persons curb cuts,” legal but not up to current perfection. Thus SF is among the country’s top 5 cities with the worst street conditions.

And if one thinks that SF is third world (albeit with out-of-this world real estate prices), you only need to look at the administration of the 80 odd municipalities in St. Louis county and the revenue paradigm of screwing minorities with “deep-south-in-the-50’s” type speed traps. To add insult to injury, the new york times again featured St Louis county’s Pagedale municipality in the recent November 4th’s article on revenue raising “…officials in this tiny city near St. Louis ordered Valarie Whitner to replace her siding; repaint her gutters, downspout and foundation; and put up screens or storm covers outside every window and blinds or curtains on the inside.”

Friday, October 23, 2015

Just a quick note, but do you agree that if one of the most popular publications for parents is the: Survival Guide to the SFUSD Enrollment Fair, then the city is in a very sad state... No wonder about half of school age kids move out of the city when they get to middle school...

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

the Clerk in Kentucky, who refuses to issue marriage licenses, listening to a "higher authority," would be less cowardly if she resigned, but she won't, because she would lose her gummint paycheck and gummint pension. typical pathetic human, no guts.....

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Another person who wants to end their own life with dignity, without agonizing pain and suffering, is turned down by the judicial courts. Politicians, scared "s***less" by the fanatic churches, will not allow anyone to control their own life. On the other hand, we have tons of laws preventing cruelty to animals, but none of them prevent the "euthanizing" of suffering animals and pets. We "helped" our 18 year old cat suffering from failing kidneys a couple years ago. We weren't arrested. Anybody else note an inconsistency here.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

I'm sorry to see
Carl Nolte (chron sun) join the ranks of those of us who rant and complain, all to no
avail. I always enjoyed his bright take on the city.

The
problem is not only that current politicians refuse to take
responsibility or even discuss the problem, it's that their actions
exacerbate adversarial positions between residents. Like Campos and
Avalos, Peskin and Daly, they engender rivalry and hate between renters
and landlords, immigrants and police, drivers and pedestrians and
bicyclists, workers and business, homeless and residents, police and the
district attorney.

They think it's going to fix the problem to
"rearrange deck chairs." Like Campos "forbidding merging of
storefronts" instead of working a compromise (say, financial incentives)
between building owners and long term ethnic tenants on 24th. And my
continuing soapbox, finding a compromise to avoid thousands of empty
housing units hurt by destructive rent control rules.

The city, residents, and politicians have lost the ability to compromise due to the animosity. Looks like i've ranted about this before, lot of good it does me.

Monday, July 6, 2015

The sad part about the whole tragedy on pier 14 is that it was so avoidable. If only the city of SF had the knowledge and intelligence and ability to compromise. No undocumented immigrant should be turned over to ICE and deported or jailed for a speeding ticket.ANY undocumented immigrant who is a convicted felon or been deported 5 times should be jailed or turned over to ICE. Any politician who will not or cannot be trusted to understand the difference should never be elected or re-elected. Or has the guts to make people responsible for their own actions. Are we ALL so stupid to vote for these idiots over and over. DID YOU VOTE for them ??? My fav word: Pathetic.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

David Campos scares me. He is one of the politicians who engender hate between groups. Unfortunately, his type is in the majority of politicians. Old time residents of the mission and the small hispanic-owned businesses who cater to them would like to stay in their homes and stay in business. This is desirable and a worthy cause. Building owners have a constitutional right to own property and receive the best return on their investment which they can obtain.Unfortunately, Campos is trying to defy the constitution by making laws to try to accomplish the first goal by restricting the second, typical hate tactics. His proposed legislation is a joke, typical of politicians who should never be elected. THE ONLY SOLUTION is an agreed-upon compromise. Good luck, but we elected you to run the city, not stir up hate between groups.

Hopefully, one of these days enough people will listen to me and vote for moderate, fiscally conservative, socially moderate, politicians. I'm not holding my breathe. Read the below and try to tell me i've not said this before:The writer below is a resident in Puerto Rico, which recently (like nobody caught this before) discovered it could not pay it's $73 bn dollar debt: ......

<<People ricochet from anger to resignation back to anger again. Along San
Juan’s colonial-era streets, in homes and shops, Puerto Ricans blame
the government for the economic debacle. Election after election, they
say, political leaders took the easy way out, spending more than they
had, borrowing to prop up the budget, pointing fingers at one another
and failing to own up to reality.>>

Ahh, please notice that the writer does not put any blame on the voters who continue to vote for politicians who promise everything to everyone.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Have you noticed the President when he is speaking. The only people behind him are the audience, or someone whom he is appointing to a position and maybe their new boss.

NOW LOOK at a local politician, some provincial small town mayor (like SF's Lee) or member of the board of stupidvisors, or minor elected official. They dig up 10 or so people, usually on the city payroll, who stand behind them, trying NOT to look bored or detesting their boss making them stand where the teevee cameras can see them.

Do these idiots really think we consider them more important cuz they lined up people behind them. Do YOU consider them more important. If you do, we as a country are totally doomed. Generally, the more people behind the politician, the more insecure they are.

Only one exception will i even consider. When a politician announces their candidacy for a higher position (hooray for musical chairs in term limits), they have no choice but to line up "supporters," otherwise they look like losers.. (hmmm)...

By the way, term limits are an admission that the voter is an idiot...

Couple more thoughts, since some people actually seem to be reading my crappy rants. Maybe it might even convince some people to take back our cities from corrupt, cowardly politicians. Actually, some pretty simple thoughts, nuthin too heavy this weekend.

The absolute WORST job in the entire world has got to be an "INDUSTRY SPOKESPERSON." <grin>. To spout the total LIES about an industry over and over again, all with a straight face. You know when the oil industry says that the auto fuel high cost has nothing to do with "unscheduled" refinery closings and shipping fuel overseas, anyone who says, "yea, that makes sense," is a braindead idiot. These jobs used to be all women, but now even men are forced to accept this loser of a job.

Spokepersons for the communications industry, chemical industry, transportation. I watched some poor son of a bitch the other night try to say that rail cars carrying explosive oil are perfectly safe. Yee gods, man, LIES, LIES, LIES. This is the latest oil that is now pumped out of the ground, not the heavy stuff they used to use.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Karl Marx once said (or something close) that "Religion is the Opiate of the People". To give you an idea of how stupid religion is, besides that they cause the most wars and deaths of any world cause, look at the 600 dead in Pakistan due to the heat wave.

Did you know that the Muslim religion is so backward that during Ramadan (now), people are not ALLOWED to drink water during the day, besides not being allowed to eat. No Imam has the balls to waive this and tell people that you need to hydrate during triple digit heat...

Saturday, June 20, 2015

The confederate battle flag is a legitimate symbol of the south in the civil war. The CAUSE of the war is no longer valid in intelligent people, and has been hijacked by racists, white supremacists, and other brain dead screamers.

For those reasons, it should be relegated to museums, just like history of religious wars. Remember, if we do not study history, we are doomed to repeat it. But then again, many kids no longer study history anyway. Sad.

The Confederate Battle Flag should no longer be flown anywhere. I don't think i've ever read an intelligent comment supporting it's flying. Like the texas governor's pandering to the lunatic right by sending the national guard to watch over an army exercise. Truly truly sad and pathetic. First world? Update: 6 July. The great state of south carolina's senate has voted to move the confederate battle flag to a museum. I'm not holding my breath. Did you see the people waving that flag ?? pathetic.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Duh? Now i remember what i was going to say. The story of the shooting in South Carolina simply reinforces my opinion that the National Rifle Association is one of the most destructive organizations in the entire country. If we continue to let them rule congress and the governments of the brain dead south (and many more states), the United States is doomed as a first world country. We must reduce the number of guns in this country. Why the NRA needs semi-automatic and automatic weapons, most of which get stolen from gun-nuts, is beyond me. We must control ownership, and make sure that demented (most people) and criminal elements cannot obtain guns.

I have not written in months, because i am so fed up with SF that i have spent my time planning my departure from a city where tenants and landlords, bicyclists and drivers, pedestrians and drivers, techies and long term residents, are in the most hateful and hate-fueled relationship i have ever witnessed in my (relatively small) world travels. Fueled by the disrespect and inability to compromise in the Board of Stups, the city will slowly crumble. I'm not even sure what to call this post, maybe "hello again." The BOS refuses to address the worst problems in the city, and resorts to "rearranging deck chairs." If you've ever read a lot of political history, you know i am referring to the sinking of the Titanic.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Sent to the Chron: The Chronicle's editorial on Archbishop Cordileone’s pathetic attempt at forcing medieval
theology on 21st century catholic teachers (Wrong city, wrong
century, February 5) is very timely. However, your attempt to exonerate the
current boss man in the Vatican ( “…forward thinking Pope...” ) is way off the mark.

There is no way on God’s
green earth that the Pope does not condone Cordileone’s edicts. The Pope has
absolute control over his underlings, what they say, and where they are
assigned. If Francis had any qualms about what the reincarnation of Gregory IX
was doing in this diocese, Salvatore would be history.

The Pope’s retention of
Cordileone is absolute proof that the Catholic church is still mired in the 13th
Century and has zero intention of ever modernizing. How anyone continues to
support the Catholic church is beyond my comprehension. And I guess I’m going
straight to hell too.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Thinking about Thailand's former PM Shinawatra's statement that "...today Thai democracy has died...." (Chron Jan 23, 2015)Then
i think about the struggling middle class in the US, the 99%'s
dwindling piece of the economic pie, the corporate and union ownership
of Washington, the inability of intelligent voters to get rid of the
stagnant politicians in many city state and federal governments, the
inability of many cultures to rise above the slow disintegration of
their lives, the ineffectual billions spent on studies to kick problems
down the road, the lack of initiative to really face problems, the
political correctness which denigrates anyone's ability to make people
responsible for their own actions.I think of what a close friend says, "Democracy is overrated.."

Friday, January 9, 2015

Great, fantastic. In an article in the NYT, many "muslim scholars" are now blaming the religion's propensity for extremism and violence on being “...just a veneer for anger at the dysfunctional Arab states left
behind by colonial powers..." , meaning that old white men in the early 1900's are responsible for muslim extremists killing people today. It's like the African American community's continuing disintegration being blamed on white people from the early 1900's. It's like politicians blaming everything on politicians before them when their corruption causes cities to go bankrupt and fall apart. As Friedman pointed out in "The World is Flat," Korea and Hewlett Packard each create more patents in a week than the Arab world created in 20 years, and it's the fault of white men ???

Pathetic. Why in the world do people blame someone else for their own problems ??? Well, duh... Because they are too weak to take responsibility for their own failings. COME ON, world, own up, dude. Why do we let these weak-brained lunatics back into the country after they go to the middle east ??

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The Potrero View's
article on David Chiu's legislation (concerning the requirement for solar on new buildings) didn't say if new small residential buildings were included, but it is one reason why SF is so expensive, more
REQUIREMENTS. It already would cost me $6000 to remove and replace my
diseased street trees and my new $10k ($2k for paperwork alone) fifteen foot retaining wall is
stronger than my whole house foundation.

Please
stop putting more "Requirements" on housing. Of course, the plan may
have been just campaigning. INCENTIVES ARE GOOD, REQUIREMENTS ARE
STUPID..

I'm 71, resident 40 yrs, this house owner for 30, already have solar PV and solar hot water (2010).

and just for the hell of it, how about a annual summary:When will US corporations finally realize that not paying a good salary to useful employees will bankrupt the middle class, without whom they would have no one to sell to ???When will most US organizations finally realize that unless you streamline the organizations, both public and private, eventually they will disintegrate of their own bloat, bankrupting the cities, states, and even the US gummint ???When will the gummint realize that unless you streamline, the fees and taxes will eventually bankrupt the citizens ??? You can't be the employer of last resort. You can't give away the store in fat times to unions or corporations without dire financial problems in lean times ????When will all the gummints realize you can't give away to the store to corporations or unions, that eventually you will bankrupt cities, states, etc (am i a broken record?) ???I am reminded of the lunatics buying gas guzzling trucks and suv's in this time of cheap gas, because, PEOPLE, IT AIN'T GONNA CONTINUE...Happy new year... (i resolve to be less cynical next year, but, of course, that ain't gonna happen either...)

The "Interview." yeah, one last happy new year... You couldn't make this up...One wonders who is the dumbest, the North Koreans, Sony, movie goers, or the Media. Why would the North Koreans expose their abilities to try to cripple a Japanese (ain't even 'mercan) movie that is obviously destined to die a quiet horrible movie death?? Why would Sony put on such a stupid pic? Frankly, i'm cynical enough to believe that whole thing was engineered in the Sony marketing department. They are obviously going to make far more in revenue than if they had just released the bomb..Why would anyone even want to see this? Surely, i can't believe anyone would see this out of a first amendment concern. And, of course, the media, who hyped the whole thing, even got the Pres to weigh in. Did Sony pay them by promising big ads for the movie??Ludicrous... By the way, i hope nobody reading this actually thinks the internet is secure and their info private ????

I've tried to avoid the subject because anyone that disagrees with me will call me a racist. Not only do "Black Lives Matter," but, remember, "ALL Lives Matter." I do not disagree that Police forces across the country have a problem dealing with the African American community. My high school was 1/4 mile from Ferguson Missouri. I have lived and revisited (after a 40 year absence) my home town. The blacks in St. Louis and St. Louis County are victims of over 80 mostly tiny municipal police forces whose primary duty is to extract money from all residents (see Washington Post 9/3/2014 and following), and of course it falls mostly on poor blacks. The rural south of the 60's lives on even today in St. Louis County. To understand how pathetic the situation is, one only has to think what a European thinks about the United States, reading about a black man like Eric Garner who is killed by white police for selling cigarettes ???The other viewpoint is that the black community has a problem too. Always remember there are TWO sides to every problem. I believe the most eloquent quote is from Brian Willingham, church pastor and black police officer in Flint MI, quoted in the NY Times, "I now realize that we who consider ourselves leaders in the black community can't just be against racism. We have to also be against a portion of black culture that has become increasingly anti-authority and antisocial to a point of self-destruction. This is an enemy we've yet to engage in the balck community . But it's a conversation i think we're forced to have now." It doesn't help that the police and politicians are so intimidated that they allow anarchists and vandals to hijack and distort the huge majority of legitimate protests.Sometimes i feel the entire culture of the United States is slowly disintegrating before our eyes, and we don't do anything about it. God help us, most people don't even vote. PS that's a generic god, not a christian or muslim shia or shiite or whatever.

Time to round out the year with a couple more CCOWM observations about our screwed up city and state. How about an easy one. BART. They want to build a second tube under the bay, which nobody can afford anyway, like the big fast train, which, if i'm lucky, may complete 3 or 4 miles in the central valley before i die. How about BART just spend a fraction of whatever (which nobody will even guesstimate) to upgrade the signal systems, and reduce the interval between trains (omg, omg, too dangerous) ???? Maybe build a few more crossovers for the "maintenance" ?? Maybe if the unions did their work correctly, they wouldn't need so much maintenance??Like the hi spd rail, which could spend a fraction of the money to upgrade existing track and signals and build a few more bypass sidings. Then the passenger trains could go 80 mph instead of the 31 mph now (381 miles / 12 hours - do the f*ng math), maybe fewer stops. Pathetic. CCOWM = cynical, cranky, old white man

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Double Parking your car says " i am too important and my time is too valuable to worry about looking for a parking space, so i can be inconsiderate and inconvenience you."Typical san francisco, like new york in the 60's.. pathetic and depressing.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

While I'm here, I thought i'd add a note about AirBNB and hotels and Uber/Lyft and taxis. The problem with legislating against these kids is that nobody is addressing what spawned these apps (nor do they have the ability to affect anything anyway). AirBNB would not exist were it not for a huge disconnect between what travelers can afford or want to pay and what hotels and motels charge. Frankly i'd rather stay in someone's home rather than an overpriced fee-you-to-death hotel. On potrero hill, home of dozens or hundreds of listings, i have no problem with all the nice folks wheeling their luggage around here. I see a dozen a week. No problem at all. Note that hotels survive mostly on biz travelers, did you see a few weeks ago that most hotel dining rooms are disappearing because of inflated costs?? It's the economy, stupid. And the disappearing middle class, Mr. Reich, but don't get me started. And if the taxis would service the neighborhoods instead of all hiding downtown looking for airport rides, Uber / Lyft / etc would never have gotten off the ground. You cannot find a free taxi in the 'hoods. I don't even have to write any more there. I think there should be some regulation about insurance, but "training" ??? That's smokescreen b**ls**t. Another worthless association or union screwing things up.

As is true of much of
politics these days, the argument over “Voter ID” (Sunday Chron, 10/19) is the
wrong argument, hiding the agendas of the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Noone can argue with the
need for positive identification. Virtually all financial transactions today
require it. Why should anyone be able to exercise our precious right to vote,
without proving you are whose ballot you are voting ?

The problem is that some
conservatives are hijacking the legitimate attempt at identification to create
barriers to legitimate voting. Liberals are trying to make the registration
process so simple that any lazy lunatic can sign up to vote. Thus the
politicians are ignoring any compromise that might put in place legitimate ID
processes but yet protect the right to vote. Typical.

Getting an “Official ID
Card” to prove who you are is usually a fairly simple process requiring a
certain amount of personal responsibility. Yes, it might be more difficult for
some minorities. But it only needs to be done once.

There should be some ID requirement
to make an effort to register and vote.